Keeping Top Talent Without Breaking the Bank

As a recruiter for almost thirty years, I have interviewed and spoken with thousands of candidates. More often than not, compensation isn’t the reason we are able to get them interested in a new opportunity. Most of the time compensation is a secondary concern.

In fact, both myself and my partner, Barry Deutsch, have a long standing policy that if compensation is the issue, we will not work with them.

With our candidates, their primary concern is focused on non-monetary issues. Most of the time, it revolves around their boss or the company. This is not to say compensation isn’t important to them, but it isn’t the primary motivator for them to go to a recruiter.

The reverse is also true. When potential candidates decide not to listen to a potential opportunity, it usually isn’t because they feel they are overpaid and that no other company will pay them as much. Rather it is generally that they have a great relationship with their boss and love working at the company.

After listening to so many potential candidates turn us down because they were so happy working where they are, we have come up with seven things these companies consistently do to create a culture that retains their talent.

You don’t have to do all of these, but if you aren’t doing any of them you might want to reconsider.

Verbal Praise

These companies give what we call ‘Standing Ovations’ for outstanding performance. They take the time to recognize when someone goes above and beyond the call of duty.

They also give praise or even a simple thanks when someone does a good job. This is sincere praise and thanks, not just given as a matter of fact.

The contrast is a culture in which the employee’s performance is viewed as, ‘just doing their job’ or ‘isn’t that what we pay them to do.’

Achievement Awards

Another form of praise, achievement awards are earned. They are not about everyone getting one sooner or later, so everybody feels good. That loses all of the award’s meaning and significance.

These awards take different forms in different companies. Some examples include a reserved parking space, employee of the month, a trophy prominently displayed in the person’s office, certificates, mention in the company newsletter, a pin handed out by the CEO, lunch with the CEO and executive team, taking a break and cake on Friday afternoon.

The important point is that the employees appreciate the recognition and don’t take it for granted.

Learning and Development

Top performers want to continue to learn and develop their skills. Does your company encourage on-going learning for your employees?

This might include giving them some time off to attend classes, bringing a topic expert in to speak to a group, allowing them to attend a workshop, have an on-line training program they can complete, or encouraging involvement in professional association and trade associations.

These types of programs generally don’t take a lot of time or can be performed outside of working hours and the ROI to the company can be huge.

Fun and Recreational Events

My daughter works for a private university. They recognize that they don’t pay at the industry level. They overcome this in many ways, but one way is that either her department or the administrative team will do some fun thing that takes an hour or two.

Some examples include a putting contest in the office and a picnic in the park for lunch. One time her department took off an hour early to go see the filming of the Tonight Show. They would go bowling during lunch or take a few minutes late in the day to play a game of charades or Pictionary.

These are just fun things that make it a great place to work. To the workers this is worth making a few dollars less because they enjoy the people and their efforts are recognized.

Company-Wide Attention

This is a step up from department rewards and recognition. This is at the company level.

It is great to be honored or recognized by one’s boss. However, when it is by the CEO or is at a company level, that is a completely different experience.

Examples include recognition in the company newsletter or on its website, the employee’s picture on the Wall of Fame, recognition at the annual staff meeting, a medal of distinction, any seemingly small thing to recognize exceptional performance, performing beyond the call of duty or an event that demonstrates extra effort.

It is often these small things that have the biggest and lasting impact.

Impactful and Meaningful Work

This is one of the biggest reasons top talent contact executive recruiters. Top talent must be constantly challenged. They want to know what is expected of them. When clear direction is consistently lacking, they become frustrated and disengage. However, when top talent have a target to hit they will not only engage but strive to hit the bull’s eye.

Giving your best people additional challenges doesn’t mean you have to constantly be expanding their responsibilities. There is a lot of ground between saying, “That is your job and that is all there is,” to time-to-time challenging them with a special project, taking something off of your desk and giving it to them, allowing them to serve on an ad hoc project, stretching them with some strategic thinking, or involving them in an inter-department project. We find that all it takes is as little as 5% of top talent’s time to be focused on impactful and meaningful work to make a difference.

Feedback

This seems so obvious, but many managers fail to do it. Feedback is not the ‘good job’ feedback discussed earlier. This feedback is at a much higher level.

This is feedback that all top talent want and few get. This is what we call, 1-2-1 time.

These sessions can be as short as 20 minutes a month. These 1-2-1 sessions focus on their growth, on improvement, build rapport, show genuine interest by the manager, and give time to demonstrate a personal interest in that individual.

In our experience, when a manager takes the opportunity to conduct a 1-2-1 on a regular basis, the employee feels a part of the organization. They have the opportunity to be involved in the department, they can give and get feedback, participate, and be heard by their supervisor.

The 1-2-1 can be one of the most powerful experiences for employees and their supervisor.

Conclusion

Doing some or all of these seven things can dramatically impact your department and organization. Any one of these will cement the loyalty of those top performers to you and your company. They will stand by you in difficult times and excel in great times

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Do you have a culture of performance and feedback? To evaluate your culture, download our free Culture Assessment Worksheet. See if everyone in your company would describe your company culture the same. Click here to download.

Is your hiring process effective at attracting, hiring and retaining top talent? You can do a self assessment of your hiring methodology by downloading our 8 Point Hiring Methodology Self Assessment Scorecard. Click here to download.